


i don't wanna lose your touch (i don't wanna hurt this much)

by fakeheaux



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Bonding, Boys Kissing, Chinese Food, M/M, but not like...in a sexual way, it's like...they cant move away from each other, it's vry freaky friday, just..read it, midnight chats, oops spoiler, sad boys, spiritual bonding, suspicious chinese restaurants, suspicious fortune cookies, that sounded..racist it's not i promis, why i am writing this instead of actual tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-24 09:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13210596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fakeheaux/pseuds/fakeheaux
Summary: "Okay, so. So...you're stuck with each other," Harry says slowly. "Literally."Zayn sighs, already done with the whole thing. "Yeah, Harry."or zayn and niall get magically bonded together after they eat some sus chinese food





	i don't wanna lose your touch (i don't wanna hurt this much)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Stupid Bonding Fic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/347712) by ihavea1dbloghelp. 



> hmmm inspired by a bonded tomlinshaw fic by ihavea1dbloghelp on tumblr where they're not like...cuffed they just can't be too far apart it's cool seee because i have no original ideas that's what makes it fun...it starts not at the beginning so like all you really need to know is they saw each other for the first time in like...let's say since the AMAs you know the one where niall shook zayns hand and left him shook and since theyre both like..passive aggressive when their respective parties were like hey let's all sit together they didn't say no and they don't talk and gigi notices zayn being all weird and she's like 'wish you guys would just talk to each other' COINCiDENTALLY just as she's crackin open a fortune cookie and then ummm yeah stuff happens
> 
> unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine as per us
> 
> title from paper houses by niall horan

They haven't left Niall's flat in days. It's almost New Year's and he hasn't seen his mum, hasn't seen his sister, hasn't seen anyone in days. Niall ignores him almost completely, puttering around his home cleaning or eating or whatever, ignoring him as he follows behind him pitifully, trying to ease the ache in his chest that comes with being too far away. Sometimes it feels like he's the only one that feels it, the hurt. Niall never flinches when he walks away too quickly, never grimaces when he pulls his hand away. But he always wakes up with Niall curled up around him, and somehow Niall's hand always finds its way back to his body. Doesn't matter where, or even how much, really. Just as long as he's there.

It sucks ass.

"You know, you could help out a bit," Niall says, snatching a sock from underneath the bed. He's just busying himself so they're not still for too long. They always somehow end up all over each other when that happens. "I know you don't live here but like, you kind of do now, at least until we figure this out."

Thumbing through his phone, Zayn's eyebrows bounce. "We can leave, you know," he says. He doesn't need to look up to know Niall's rolling his eyes. "Not like this  _curse_ or whatever has us trapped in here. Why did we even pick here, like, I want my dogs."

Niall doesn't answer for a minute, and a sharp spike of curiosity hits Zayn. Niall always has some sort of witty retort when Zayn brings up his dogs. He looks up, sees Niall kneeling on the floor, arm up on the bed, brows furrowing at something on his phone. Inexplicably, the look sends a chill down Zayn's spine. "What."

"Harry's coming over," Niall says, hushed. " _Shit_ ," he hisses, rushing to his feet. His knees creak loudly, a side effect from the cold weather - or so he's told Zayn - but he doesn't even flinch. Tossing the sock in his hand at his empty laundry basket, he disappears into the loo. The pull starts quickly, and Zayn pulls a face. He's so comfortable right now. It took him a solid minute and a half of wriggling around in Niall's bed until he found this spot, and he'll be damned if he moves because of some stupid _fucking_ - 

"Would you get in here?" Niall calls, and Zayn can hear the irritation. He doesn't even get a please.

"No, m'comfy," he shouts back, scrolling through instagram. Gigi looks like she's having fun. That's good; she doesn't need his little predicament right now to hamper on her holiday. He does wish she hadn't eaten the damn cookie, though. "Come back out here; not like Harry hasn't seen you in all forms anyway."

There's no answer, and Zayn smirks to himself. Getting Niall to shut up has been pretty fucking hard, lately, seeing as he's so put out about having to put Zayn up in his home. As if Zayn asked for this. Been a right twat, he has, and Zayn's done his best not to be underfoot, not to get in his way or in his business. He cleans up after himself, does his own cooking and washing up. He's been the perfect houseguest. Hasn't even wanked since he stepped foot in the flat.

He shouts in surprise when a pile of clothes is dropped on his head. Suffocating for a quick moment, he thrashes until he's made it out from underneath the clothes. Niall stands above him, hands on his hips, lips pressed together, eyebrows raised. He nods once like  _wanna try something else?_ Zayn is tempted to, but he doesn't, because as irritating as it is, Niall is right. Just those few moments away from Niall made Zayn ache, and it'll only get worse if Niall hosts his little shindig with Harry in the living room rather than the bedroom. Although with Niall and Harry anything can happen. With Niall and Harry anything  _has_ happened.

"How soon is he gonna be here?" Zayn says, grumpy. He really was comfortable.

Niall shrugs. "He texted about five minutes ago, but it could mean anything. Could be here in three hours or in the next ten minutes. You know how he is." Yeah, Zayn knows how Harry is.

Both their heads jerk towards the door when the security buzzer rings. Niall curses under his breath and dashes out of the room too quick for Zayn to follow. They both groan, and Niall trips over his own feet before he's made it out the room, falling flat on his face. Zayn stumbles off the bed, practically jumping off as he tries to get close to Niall again. Not really thinking about anything other than making the pain go away, he drapes himself over Niall, laying on him where he's still on the floor. They both gasp in relief, and Zayn rests his head in the crook of Niall's shoulder, panting.

"Dumbarse," he mumbles. Niall rolls over, knocking Zayn off him but not moving away.

"Shut up and come with me to get the door," he answers.

Zayn does it. Not like he has much of a choice.

**

Harry is surprised to see Zayn, he can tell in the way his brows jump minutely, but he doesn't say anything about it. He hugs Niall tightly, hands lingering on Niall's shoulders a touch too long before he turns to Zayn and gives him a courteous hug. Zayn only hugs him back because of the look Niall is giving him.

"Well this is a nice surprise," Harry says brightly, grinning widely at Zayn. It's only a touch forced.

Niall brings him further into the flat, chatting about shit that Zayn could really not care less about. Zayn trails along behind them, close enough that there's no ache but with enough distance not to seem suspicious. Last thing he needs is Harry fucking Styles finding out about this stupid fortune cookie curse.

They get comfy in the living room, Niall and Harry still chatting about whatever - Zayn is making a point not to pay attention - and Zayn is just on his phone. Gigi's sent him a picture of all their pets sitting in a group, all still at the same time for the first - and probably last - time ever. Zayn pouts. He could've been there for that.

"Zayn," Harry says, loudly. Zayn slides his gaze up from his phone slowly, unimpressed with Harry's tone. "Been calling you for ages, mate," he laughs awkwardly. "Was just wondering if you could give me and Niall a mo. Need to talk to him."

Brows raising, Zayn looks over at Niall, not even bothering to move his head. Niall's giving him a pleading look, but he can't tell if it's  _please don't leave_ pleading or  _get the fuck out_ pleading. With Niall, it could be either. Especially when Harry is involved.

"Alright," Zayn says airily. "I'll be in the kitchen." It's too far, he knows, but it's the closest room that can give Harry some semblance of privacy. He stands, taking a breath to brace himself, and slowly walks out of the room. He can feel the ache starting deep in his chest, and he almost turns around right there, almost throws his arms up and says  _fuck it._ He doesn't though.

When he gets to the kitchen, he leans forward against the counter and takes deep breaths. Maybe if he can focus himself he can ignore the pain. Sounds pretty solid. Like, if he thinks about his ear enough he'll feel everything there and nothing else.

It doesn't work.

He's gasping for breath only minutes later, trying to ignore the pain that's slowly taking over his entire being until he hears a choked  _christ_ come from the living room and then the sound of feet running across carpet.

Niall bursts into the kitchen and they reach for each other at the same time, wrapping themselves up in a small cocoon of just their bodies. The pain slowly ebbs away, until Zayn can finally breathe normally. Harry trails in behind him, brows quirked in confusion.

"Um," he says slowly. "You alright there?"

**

They tell Harry everything. Twice. When it seems like he needs it run past him again a third time, Zayn groans loudly, dropping his head back onto Niall's shoulder. He's insisted on sitting right next to him, practically on top of him like they did back when they started and the couches were too small during interviews.

"Okay, so. So...you're stuck with each other," Harry says slowly. "Literally."

Zayn sighs, already done with the whole thing. "Yeah, Harry."

Harry nods. "Alright. Um," he pulls at his lips, that familiar nervous tick that Zayn doesn't let himself think of fondly. Refuses to let himself think of fondly. Adamantly doesn't remember rare nights where they were on the same bus and playing some stupid board game to pass the time, when Harry would take forever to roll a die or pick a card or whatever it was. He doesn't think about it.

"You know, Nick went through something just like," Harry says, pointing at them. Zayn snorts, pulling out his phone. He can do without a conversation about Nick Grimshaw, thanks. Gigi's sent him another picture. Hopefully of the pets. He swipes it open, but once the picture comes up in full size he makes a strangled noise in his throat and drops the phone on his leg. He hears Niall makes a curious noise but he ignores it, locking his phone where it lays facedown on his leg.

Harry sighs. "Listen, I know you've never been a huge fan of Nick, but I really do think he can help. I'll give you his number, alright, and -"

"Thanks, Harry, but I've got his number," Niall says. Harry pouts, obviously not liking that he can't be of use. "Listen, um, whatever it was that you wanted to talk about, can we talk about it after we've figured this out? It's just, not very smart to do it if we're like this, and -"

"No, I get it," Harry says. He stands, nodding and smiling his little unpleased smile. Zayn narrows his eyes at him.

"Bye, Harry," he says, pointedly not letting Niall stand. He feels Niall struggling underneath him but just leans further back on him. The more weight he puts on Niall the less he'll be able to see Harry out. "You know the code, right? Can you turn the alarm back on when you leave?"

Nodding, Harry makes his way to the door, walking backwards. "Course, yeah. Um, I'll see you guys later, and um, Niall, email me or - you know, call, when - when you've got this settled. Yeah, um. Bye."

The door shuts quietly behind him. Satisfied, Zayn snuggles deeper into Niall's side. Niall doesn't fight back, even though Zayn knows he wants to. It bothers him a bit, but he doesn't comment on it. Then he loses.

**

It's a half hour until the new year and they're fighting over a pillow.

"It was on  _my_ side, Niall Horan, give it up," Zayn growls, yanking on it. Niall scoffs, pulling just as hard. He doesn't even retort, that's how Zayn knows he's in the right. It's his damn pillow.

It goes on, unbelievably, for the whole rest of the year. All twenty some minutes of it. Niall finally gives in when they hear the cheering and the fireworks outside, when both their phones start lighting up with a million texts from everyone they know. He stares at the blankets, breathing heavily still. Zayn ignores him, placing the pillow where he wants it and punching it into place. Fighting over it was pointless; all their pillows end up on the floor or at the end of the bed, now, since their bodies are like magnets to each other now. It was just for show, really.

Zayn can't even say he's surprised when Niall kisses him. He just sighs into it, placing his hand on the back of Niall's neck. They kiss for way longer than is necessary, than is warranted for a New Year's kiss between two people who are practically strangers now. When they finally pull back, Niall sniffs in hard. Zayn pretends he doesn't see the wet in Niall's eyes.

"You never called," he says quietly. "And I hate you for that."

Then he lies down and pretends to be asleep, no matter how much Zayn pokes and prods at him.

A Happy New Year, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this was so bad and like...what even was it im just bitter about a lot of things so um yeah 
> 
> im on tumblr at flickrseshions


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